No Social Media for One Week

Mitch Grosserode

No Social Media for One Week

First Journal Entry- I am nervous for this experiment and have many questions to myself

before I complete it. Why is this something I want to do when there is probably something a lot

easier I could do? How am I going to feel after a week of not looking at social media? This is

going to be very interesting, but difficult at the same time. The steps I am going to try and do is

to first try not to think about it the entire day. I know this probably will not happen, but it is good

to have a good mindset going in. I will also try to keep my phone in my pocket or away from my

sight as much as possible. I will turn my phone ringer on high when I am not in class, so if

somebody really needs to get ahold of me they can. I will also try to not worry about people on

the internet, but rather interact face-to-face with people around me.

November 7, 2016 (Day 1)- The first day of the experiment was very hard for me to not look at

social media. When I wake up in the morning that is one of the first things that I do. I have a

tendency to always want to know what other people are doing. When I am bored I look at social

media because it gives me something to do.

November 8, 2016 (Day 2)- Today was election day in the United States. This was the hardest

out of the entire week not to look at social media. I wanted to see all of the people’s reactions on

twitter, but I had to hold myself back. I watched the election on television and tried to not look at

my phone because I knew I would be tempted. I survived the entire night without looking at

social media once.

November 9, 2016 (Day 3)- This was the day I became depressed and bored. It was the day after

the election and I still wanted to look at everybody’s opinion on the outcome. I took a nap and it

was hard for me to fall asleep because of this experiment. I did not think I would feel this way at

all. It is crazy how your body and mind can be thrown so off track from not looking at social

media.

November 10, 2016 (Day 4)- Today I told myself to grow up and that I do not need this in my

life. I decided it was mind over matter and I had to follow through with this experiment. This

really seemed to help me and I was not worried about it as much. I was able to focus on my

schoolwork more and be less distracted. I had a huge test the next day and it went really well.

This is most likely from not looking at my phone while studying. This is the first day that not

looking at social media really helped me out a lot.

November 11, 2016 (Day 5)- It is a beautiful Friday and I now know that social media is no big

deal at all. I was able to have better interaction with people today because I was not looking at

my phone as much. This is what our generation really struggles with and rightfully so. It was

way easier to not be tempted to look because my mind was not focused on that specific matter.

November 12, 2016 (Day 6)- I had no urge to look at social media at any point of the day. It now

blows my mind that I spent that much time looking at that throughout the day. I am able to do

way more in a day from not spending my time on that task. The truth is that I am glad only one

more day is left though.

November 13, 2016 (Day 7)- Today is the last day of the week long experiment. I am thinking

about deleting the apps from my phone because there is really no use for them. Once again, I was

able to have more interaction with the people around me. This is something that I really liked. I

did not even think about looking at social media the entire day.

Journal Entry Summary- Overall, I learned a lot throughout this experiment. It was hard at the

beginning, but very rewarding at the end. I learned that practicing something like this for just one

week can make a world of difference. By the end I could have cared less what pictures people

were posting on twitter or Instagram. We are all just so technologically advanced that we think

we need social media is our everyday lives, but we truly do not. I also learned that not doing

something for a week can hard on your mind and body. There was a time during the week that I

was depressed and could not sleep. That was the craziest part of the entire experiment. The last

three days were easy for me, while the first four days were very difficult. I chose the right

experiment for myself and found out that social media is not that great after all.